Provision for Carers in Guernsey

A working group formed by the Guernsey Community Foundation researched the support services currently in place for carers in Guernsey with the aim of identifying any gaps in provision.

The group, led by Peter Harwood, a previous Deputy and Chair of the States Supported and Living Well Strategy, conducted interviews with organisations that work with carers and investigated the many challenges that carers can face. This included carers of any age and carers of individuals with any medical or age-related condition. Current estimates suggest that there are between 2,000 and 4,000 voluntary carers in Guernsey.

The report recommended the formation of a new charity ‘Carers Guernsey’ to address the gaps in provision identified by the research. The Foundation is providing start-up costs for the charity and will work in partnership with the States of Guernsey on the development of the Carers Strategy, due to be considered by the States in 2018.

Social Finance in Guernsey

Published in February 2016, this report was commissioned by the Foundation and carried out by Justin Sykes. It looks at the emerging role of Social Finance internationally, and how it might be applied in Guernsey. Intended as a benchmark and reference document for those in the public, voluntary and business sectors interested in using investment to achieve a social impact, this report provides a good grounding for future discussions about the use of Social Finance locally.

Poverty Measurement Research

Commissioned from Island Analysis, this two-stage research looked first at how different jurisdictions measure and monitor poverty (Phase One, December 2013) and then at how such measurements could be adapted to Guernsey (Phase Two, March 2014).

Tackling poverty and disadvantage is a high priority for the Foundation, and we commissioned this research to encourage the States to take a more active approach to this issue. We were pleased that, largely thanks to an internship also sponsored by the Foundation, the States introduced a new set of poverty measures in 2016. This is the first step towards developing a more comprehensive, strategic response to poverty in Guernsey.

Guernsey Voluntary and Charitable Sector

Published in 2011, the Foundation’s first major piece of research, commissioned from the University of Bristol and the School for Policy Studies , provides an overview of the scale, strengths and gaps in the voluntary sector in Guernsey. Commissioned shortly after the Foundation was first set up, we used this report to help us develop a strategy for supporting the voluntary sector that was based on evidence, and would allow us to be most effective in our work.